Established in Paris, France in 1868 by Rodolphe Julian, the Académie Julian became a major alternative training centre to the official Ecole des Beaux Arts. Not only were women admitted as students to the Julian, but they were also permitted to draw from the nude male model.

In 1888–9 Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard were students there and together with some others formed the symbolist group the Nabis. The Académie Julian was popular with foreign art students and many leading modern artists spent time there.